1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a floatation device for attachment to the temples of a pair of glasses in a manner that the device is comfortable to wear and cannot be knocked loose.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Many kinds of floats have been proposed for attachment to eyeglasses such that they will float if they fall into the water during water related activities such as swimming, diving, water skiing, sailing and fishing. While the idea of attaching something buoyant is an intuitive solution, practical application has eluded inventors. Ideally, a float for a pair of eyeglasses would be inexpensive to make, easily mounted on the eyeglasses in a manner that it cannot be dislodged and comfortable to wear without pressing into the cheek of a wearer or becoming entangled in the wearer's hair.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,190 to Blair describes an air-filled bladder that is attached with a pair of loops to an outboard side of the temples. The bladder extends along the length of the straight portion of the temple to the curved ear portion. The loop near the curved ear portion presses into the cheek and catches the wearer's hair. The product is also relatively expensive to make. U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,938 to Gansz describes an earlier hollow float which, like the float in Blair, extends the length of the straight portion of the temple and is expensive to make.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,375 to Gansz and U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,796 to Boothe describe pontoon-style floats for attachment to the outboard side of the temple. For each style float, there is an attachment loop that presses into the cheek or catches the wearer's hair.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,451 to Corral et al. describes a float that is formed of flexible, low-density foam and one of which is attached to each temple of eyeglasses with a T-slot. A first slit of the T-slot extends from the inboard side of the temple and meets a second longitudinal slot that runs the length of the float. A pair of elastic bands are threaded over the end of the curved ear portion and passed around the float to keep the slits closed and the float attached to the temple such that it cannot be knocked off when a user dives into water, falls off a water ski or the like. An add-on pad for greater buoyancy may be attached to the float on the outboard side of the temple.